1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to board games and more particularly pertains to a new board game system for promoting hometown identity among inhabitants of the hometown when they play the game.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A multitude of various board games are known in the prior art for providing entertainment to the players of the various board games. The known games tend to be set in fictional areas that are unrecognizable to the players in the real world, or are set in well known areas that few players have actually visited, such as Depression-era Atlantic City in the game known as MONOPOLY. However, insofar as is known, none of the prior art games are specifically directed to, tailored to, and capable of, familiarizing players of the game with a particular hometown or home area or locale of the players, especially in a manner that encourages the players to further familiarize themselves with the institutions and people of their home town or locale.
The board game system for promoting hometown identity according to the present invention is thus believed to substantially depart from the conventional concepts and designs of the games known and recognized in the gaming prior art.
The present invention provides a new board game, and method of playing the game, which has a primary purpose of promoting hometown identity among inhabitants of the hometown when they play the game.
To attain this, the invention has both method and apparatus aspects. The method aspects of the invention includes providing a game apparatus that includes a game board having a path for advancing game pieces of players along and a scoring sheet having a plurality of stripe portions and a field portion. The stripe portions and field portion are arranged on the scoring sheet in a configuration appearing as a United States flag. The method includes rolling a die by a player and moving the player""s game piece along the game path a number of spaces corresponding to a value indicated by the die and landing the player""s game piece on one of the plurality of spaces. The method further includes coloring, by a player, one of the stripe portions of the scoring sheet of the player with the red marking device or coloring the field portion of the scoring sheet of the player with the blue marking device, when a preset condition is satisfied. The game is won by the first player to have all of the stripe portions of the scoring sheet colored red and the field portion colored blue.
The apparatus aspect of the invention includes a game board having a path for advancing game pieces of players along, and the path comprising a plurality of spaces for advancing the game piece of a player as the player moves along the game path. A portion of the spaces each has a sponsor indicium marked thereon that is associated with a sponsoring entity located in a geographical area. The apparatus also includes a scoring sheet having a plurality of stripe portions and a field portion arranged on the scoring sheet in a configuration appearing as a United States flag. The stripe portions may be separated from each other by at least one blank stripe portion. The apparatus may also include a plurality of dice, a plurality of game pieces, and a plurality of marking devices for marking on the game sheets. The plurality of marking devices may include a red marking device and a blue marking device.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
One particular distinct advantage of the game system of the invention is that familiarity with the organizations, institutions, and businesses of the players"" hometown is rewarded during play of the game, as those players demonstrating the greatest ability to identify people associated with these entities find it easier to complete their respective scoring sheets and ultimately win the game. Those players that are not as familiar with local entities must rely primarily upon their ability to correctly answer trivia questions in various categories to complete their scoring sheets.